mornings like this...

May 22, 2023 Arlene Giddings

I love mornings
like this…
sunny and bright
(even if it is a little cool)…
no plans, no itinerary, no agenda.

The house is quiet
and still,
the animals all napping
in various makeshift beds
of their choosing.

I am puttering around
with a pen and a paper pad
full of lists
and ideas
big big plans
and little itty bitty doodles…

I am drinking coffee
and drawing blimps…

RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD:
buying a smaller mattress for car camping
getting pugsley a new leash for short walks maybe
watching old movies for a bit
plant fertilizer
a rain barrel
what to name the bathroom gang of plants
happy that the dandelions all popped back up after I cut the grass
how much I love the word slather
and
how I really want to get back to this page again.

Just for me, if nothing else….
I like to look back and see
where I have been,
who I once was…
how far things have come and gone.
♥

friday i'm in love...(& weirdly not an Easter version...)

April 7, 2023 Arlene Giddings

I love a long weekend. ♥

I feel a distinct push/pull
in my life this week.
One minute I am hyper focused,
the next I am floundering
around panicking about ants
(so far there have only been a few
but it doesn’t take much to push me to panic mode),
attic pigeons, low oil level in tank
and hoping it will come in time,
and wondering why I can’t keep on top of
literally ANYTHING.

This will pass. I know it will.
Maybe it’s the moon as one friend suggested.
Maybe it’s just hormones.
Maybe it’s just who I am. :)

I am always surprised
to keep learning things about myself
to be honest.
I mean…it seems strange to be surprised
at this stage of the game…

But I recently listened
to a woman talking about her
struggle with depression, anxiety,
adhd and OCD tendencies.
She talked about
how her method/thought process
for laundry sorting
became key to realizing that she
had some level of OCD.

I sort my laundry
the
exact same
way.
and thought that EVERYONE did.

Not that it necessarily means anything
one way or the other,
but it just
surprised me…& made me think…
the things we consider quirks or strategies
may be seen as signs or symptoms of something else
and you just never even considered the idea
because you assumed everyone did it the same
or thought the same or reacted the same or
whatever…

Being a person is interesting. :)

THINGS I AM LOVING:

♥ sunshine & longer days (even it is bringing the ants out)
♥ i finished daisy jones and the six and IT SO DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!!!
♥ i am totally drooling over this sofa.
♥ rewatching the office with my girl. she loves dwight & angela but just love jim and pam.
♥ seeing the kids on my street out playing all day…scooters and bikes and stopping by to pet pugsley…and ask if i know i still have my christmas decorations up….and halloween, too. Heehee. :)
♥ i watched this last night…while home alone….which i will tell you now was not a good time to watch it but it was very, very good.
♥ and april is national poetry month…here you go.

and here’s a doodle of a fruit bowl…just because. :)

whatcha readin'? {goal 40::book 5}

April 3, 2023 Arlene Giddings

I really had no idea
what to expect when I started
this book…
and I don’t want to say
very much here because
I don’t want to give anything away
but, if you are NOT like me,
you might actually read
what a book is about before
purchasing
literally based
only on the cover
which I liked so much
I doodled it in my sketchbook.

All I can tell you
is that
the writing was beautiful
and that’s what kept me going
even though
I spent a lot of time
saying what the eff is going on?
wait. what?
but didn’t she just?
is that the same person that just?
I don’t understand.

And eventually it made sense
to some degree
but required a lot of thought
which I don’t always want to do
when I pick up a book
(which is apparent by the number of YA romance I read)…

This book got great reviews
and someone wrote that once you finish it
you should read it a second time…
and that feels like it might be true.
That I would absorb much more
and curse much less.

I would read her again though.
The writing really was beautiful
and I was fully invested in the characters
and I like that feeling.

♥♥♥ 3 out of 5
NEXT UP:: SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN - SHELLY PARKER CHAN

and then it was sunday and the week was over...

April 2, 2023 Arlene Giddings

but what a good week it was.

the truth is
sometimes
you get caught up in the
i SHOULD be
doing/wanting/buying/needing/completing
and you
kind of
forget
that you can be
perfectly happy
just
being.

i spent a lot of time
this weekend
just being…
reading in cars by the water,
eating sugary lemon filled doughnuts,
climbing rocks in the cold
on a quiet, barren beach,
binge watching a show that i have been hoarding,
playing with the camera on my phone,
singing loud and driving slow while convincing
myself NOT to try to try the dirt roads yet….
and mostly
just being by myself.

and it was a very good week.